Timepiece with automatic and manual winding mechanism



1952 F. MEYER 2,620,620

TIMEPIECE WITH AUTOMATIC AND MANUAL WINDING MECHANISM Filed July 21, 1948 Patented Dec. 9, 1952 TIMEPIECE WITH AUTOMATIC AND MANUAL WINDING MECHANISM Friedrich Meyer, Grenchen,

to Felsa S.

Switzerland, assignor A., Grenchen, Switzerland Application July 21, 1948, Serial No. 39,978 In Switzerland April 5, 1921.8

11 Claims.

This invention relates to clocks or watches having both an automatic and a manual winding mechanism.

In time pieces of this kind it is usual to arrange the automatic winding mechanism to be inoperative when the mainspring is being wound up by means of the manual mechanism. For this purpose, devices have been designed which, in most cases, comprise a pawl coupling. However, up till now, these mechanisms have been very complicated, had a bad influence on the size of the clocks or watches and were difficult to lodge. a It is the object of my invention to remedy these inconveniences, by making the pawl coupling as small as possible and by lodging it in a manner as to avoid an increase in the dimensions of the timepiece. For this purpose, I accommodate the pawl coupling in the interior of a wheel inserted between the barrel winding wheel (which, in most cases, is a ratchet) and the automatic winding mechanism.

Another object is to provide in this pawl coupling a spring pawl fixed to a pinion and in engagement with an internal ratchet of a wheel, said ratchet being formed by holes uniformly distributed on the circumference of this wheel.

Other objects and features will be apparent as the following description proceeds, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, illustrating, by way of example, one embodiment of my invention and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top view of some parts of the Winding mechanism, and

Fig. 2 is a section along the line IIII of Fig. 1.

l designates the barrel arranged on the barrel arbor 2. On this latter is mounted the barrelwinding wheel 3, for instance, a ratchet, to which a hollow collet 4 is fixed. In a usual way, wellknown by those skilled in the art, the ratchet 3 is in mesh with one of the wheels, for instance, the crown wheel (not shown) of the manual winding mechanism. The mainspring coiled into the barrel is not shown. The ratchet it engages a pinion 5 to one end face of which a spring pawl 6 is riveted, the shape of which may be seen in Fig. 1. This spring pawl has a long elastic arm 1 with a nose-shaped end 8 turned outwardly. This pawl 6 is lodged within a recess 85 cut in the width of a gear wheel 9. This pawl is thus accommodated in the interior of the wheel 9.

The wheel 9 comprises holes i l distributed on its circumference and going through its whole width. These holes I I run with a portion of their one end into the recess Hi to form the spaces between teeth of an internal ratchet provided in the recess ill of the wheel 9 and which is engaged by the nose 8 of the elastic arm 7. In order to allow the arm I of the spring pawl 5, in spite of its length, to resist adequately and in order to fix the position of the pawl, the outer curvature of the arm 1 is similar to the one of the wall of a groove !3 provided in the recess Ii), so that, under the influence of the pressure between the internal ratchet and the nose e, the arm I may bear against this wall. Downward buckling of arm 7 is prevented by annular lip Id of groove I 3.

The illustrated winding mechanism works as follows:

The wheel 9 engages a pinion M in drive connection, in a manner not shown, with the piv oted winding weight (not shown) of the automatic winding mechanism. As usual and well-known to those skilled in the art, the oscillations of this winding weight are transmitted through idle wheels (not shown) to the pinion It. This latter drives the wheel Sl which, through the internal ratchet and the spring pawl moves the pinion 5 rotating the ratchet 3 so that the mainspring is Wound up. However,

" when the ratchet 3 is driven by means of the manual winding mechanism (not shown), that is, by the stem winding, the wheel 9 is not rotated and, in consequence, the nose 8 trails idly over the internal ratchet of the wheel 9, so that the automatic winding mechanism is in no way infiuenced by the manual windin mechanism.

By the illustrated arrangement any augmentation of the width of the movement is avoided in that the coupling lies within the width of the wheel inserted between the barrel windin wheel and the automatic winding mechanism.

While I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the details thereof as various modifications may occur to a person skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

l. A timepiece comprising, in combination, a barrel; a barrel winding wheel coupled with said barrel; a pinion in drive connection with said barrel winding wheel; a gear wheel mounted coaxially with said pinion for rotation with respect thereto, said gear wheel having a recess, a groove in a curved wall of said recess and trap verse holes uniformly distributed adjacent to its circumference, said holes having a portion thereof extending transversely through the periphery of said recess to form an internal ratchet; and a flat spring pawl fixed to said pinion, engaging said internal ratchet and mounted in said recess,

said pawl having a part curved similarly to said wall and closely mounted in said groove.

2. A one-way motion transmitting device for timepieces, comprising in combination, a rotatably mounted pinion to which motion in one direction only is to be transmitted; a gear concentricall'y located over said pinion and being mounted for rotation with respect thereto, said gear having a side facing said pinion and being formed with a recess in which an end face of said pinion is located and said recess having an annular side Wall formed with a plurality of teeth; and a pawl member interconnecting said gear and pinion, said pawl member being of a lesser thickness than the depth of said recess, having a central plate portion frxed to and located against said end face of said pinion, and having a springy arm integral with and extending from said central portion thereof, being located within said recess, and being provided with an outwardly bent end portion engaging said teeth of said annular side wall of said recess, said springy arm having approximately the-same curvature as said annular side wall of said recess, being located closely adjacent thereto, and extending through approximately 180, whereby, when said gear is rotated in one direction, said teeth abut against said outwardly bent end portion of said springy arm to turn said pawl with said gear, said springy arm bearing against said annular wall of said recess so as to be reinforced thereby to prevent buckling of said springy arm, and whereby, when said gear is rotated in a direction oppostie to said one direction said springy arm lightly rides over said teeth with a minimum of friction, moving toward and away from said central portion of said pawl member, and no movement is transmitted from said gear to said pawl.

3. A one-way motion transmitting device for timepieces, comprising in combination, a rotatably mounted pinion to which motion in one direction only is to be transmitted; a gear concentrically located over said pinion and being mounted for rotation with respect thereto, said gear having a side facing said pinion and being formed with a recess in which an end face of said pinion is located and said recess having an an nular side wall, said gear being formed with a plurality of bores extending therethrough adjacent the periphery thereof and intersecting said annular side wall of said recess so as to interrupt the same and form teeth therein; and a pawl member interconnecting said gear and pinion, said pawl member being of a lesser thickness than the depth of said recess, having a central, flat hub portion fixed to said end face of said pinion, and having a springy arm integral with and extending from said central portion thereof, being located within said recess, and being provided with an outwardly bent end portion engaging said teeth of said annular side wall of said recess, said springy arm having approximately the same curvature as said annular side wall of said recess, being located closely adjacent thereto, and extending through approximately 180, whereby, when said gear is rotated in one direction, said teeth abut against said outwardly bent end portion of said springy arm to turn said pawl with said gear, said springy arm bearing against said annular wall of said recess so as to be reinforced thereby to prevent buckling of said springy arm, and whereby, when said gear is rotated in a direction opposite to said one direction said springy arm lightly rides over said teeth with a minimum of friction, moving toward and away from said central portion of said pawl member, and no movement is transmitted from said gear to said pawl.

4. A one-Way motion transmitting device for timepieces, comprising in combination, a rotatably mounted pinion to which motion in one direction only is tobe transmitted; a gear concentrically located over said pinion and being mounted for rotation with respect thereto, said gear having a side facing said pinion and being formed with a recess in which an end face of said pinion is located and said recess having an annular side wall formed with a plurality of teeth, said gear having an annular lip extending inwardly of said side wall and spaced from the bottom of said recess to form a groove therewith; and a pawl member interconnecting said gear and pinion, said pawl member being of a lesser thickness than the depth of said recess, having a central portion fixed to said end face of said pinion, and having a springy arm extending from said central portion thereof, being located within said recess, and being provided with an outer end engaging said teeth of said annular side wall of said recess, and said springy arm having a portion thereof located in said groove in overlapping relation with respect to said annular lip so that the latter prevents buckling of said arm, whereby, when said gear is rotated in one direction, said teeth abut against said outer end of said springy arm to turn said pawl with said gear, said springy arm bearing against said annular wall of said recessso as to be rein forced thereby to prevent buckling of said springy arm, and whereby, when said gear is rotated in a direction opposite to said one direction, said springy arm lightly rides over said teeth with a minimum of friction, moving toward and away from said central portion of said pawl member, and no movement is transmitted from said gear to said pawl.

5. A one-way motion transmitting device for timepieces, comprising in combination, a rotatably mounted pinion to which motion in one direction only is to be transmitted; a gear concentrically located over said pinion and being mounted for rotation with respect thereto, said gear having a side'facing said pinion and being formed with a recess in which an end face of said pinion is located and said recess having an annular side wall formed with a plurality of teeth, said gear having an annular lip at the mouth of said recess extendin inwardly of said side wall; and a pawl member interconnecting said gear and pinion, said pawl member being of a lesser thickness than the depth of said recess, having a central portion fixed to said end face of said pinion, and having a springy arm extending from said central portion thereof, being located with= in said recess, and being provided with an out-1 wardly bent end portion engagin said teeth of said annular side wall of said recess, said springy arm having approximately the same curvature as said annular side wall of said recess, being located closely adjacent thereto, and extending through approximately and said springy arm having a portion'thereof located within said recess in overlapping relation with respect to said annular lip, so that the latter prevents buckling of said arm, whereby, when said gear is rotated in one direction, said teeth abut against said outwardly bent end portion of said springy arm to turn said pawl with said gear, said springy arm bearing against said annular wall of said recess so as to be reinforced thereby to prevent buckling of said springy arm, and whereby, when said gear is rotated in a direction opposite to said one direction said springy arm lightly rides over said teeth with a minimum of friction, moving toward and away from said central portion of said pawl member, and no movement is transmitted from said gear to said pawl.

6. A one-way motion transmitting device for timepieces, comprising in combination, a rotatably mounted pinion to which motion in one direction only is to be transmitted; a gear concentrically located over said pinion and being mounted for rotation with respect thereto, said gear having a side facing said pinion and being formed with a recess in which an end face of said pinion is located and said recess having an annular side wall, said gear being formed with a plurality of bores extending therethrough adjacent the periphery thereof and intersecting said annular side wall of said recess so as to interrupt the same and form teeth therein, said gear having an annular lip extending inwardly of said side wall at the mouth of said recess and forming a groove with the bottom of said recess; and a pawl member interconnecting said gear and pinion, said pawl member being of a lesser thickness than the depth of said recess, having a central portion fixed to said end face of said pinion, and having a springy arm extending from said central portion thereof, being located within said recess, and being provided with an outwardly bent end portion engaging said teeth of said annular side wall of said recess, said springy arm having approximately the same curvature as said annular side wall of said recess, being located closely adjacent thereto, and extending through approximately 180, and said springy arm having a portion thereof located in said groove in overlapping relation with respect to said annular lip so that the latter prevents buckling of said arm, whereby, when said gear is rotated in one direction, said teeth abut against said outwardly bent end portion of said springy arm to turn said pawl with said gear, said springy arm bearing against said annular wall of said recess so as to' be reinforced thereby to prevent buckling of said springy arm, and whereby, when said gear is rotated in a direction opposite to said one direction said springy arm lightly rides over said teeth with a minimum of friction, moving toward and away from said central portion of said pawl member, and no movement is transmitted from said gear to said pawl.

'7. In a timepiece mechanism having a barrel and a barrel winding Wheel, in combination, a gear having opposite side faces one of which is formed with a recess having an annular side wall provided with teeth; a pinion operatively connected to the barrel winding wheel to turn the same and having an end face substantially parallel to said opposite side faces of said gear and located adjacent to said recess; support means supporting said gear and pinion for rotation indipendently of each other about an axis passing through the center of said gear and being normal to said side faces thereof; and a one-piece pawl member having a hub portion joined to said end face of said pinion for rotation therewith and having a springy arm extending from said hub portion and located along said teeth at said side wall of said recess, said springy arm of said pawl member having an end located between a pair of adjacent teeth at said side wall of said recess to turn said pinion with said gear when the latter is rotated in one direction about said axis, said end of said springy arm riding over said teeth when said pinion is independently turned in said one direction about said axis.

8. In a timepiece mechanism as defined in claim '7, said pawl member being located within said recess and being made from a thin, sheet material so that the thickness of the timepiece mechanism is not appreciably increased by said pawl member.

9. In a timepiece mechanism as defined in claim 8, said springy arm of said pawl member having a width substantially greater than the thickness thereof.

10. In a timepiece mechanism, as defined in claim 9, said springy arm of said pawl member having a curvature approximately equal to that of said annular side Wall of said recess and said end of said springy arm being bent away from said axis.

11. In a timepiece mechanism as defined in claim 10, said gear having an annular lip at the mouth of said recess thereof forming a groove with the bottom of said recess, and said springy arm of said pawl member being located within said groove so that said annular lip prevents buckling of said springy arm.

FRIEDRICH MEYER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

